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2026-01-18 Science & Technology

Xinhua: Launch of Chinese satellite Shijian-32 ended in failure

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[Regnum] The launch of China's Long March-2B launch vehicle carrying the Shijian-32 satellite, carried out on January 17 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, ended in an accident, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The Long March-3B was launched at 12:55 AM Beijing Time (7:55 PM Moscow Time), but an abnormal malfunction occurred during the flight, resulting in the mission's failure. Experts are currently investigating the cause.

On January 14, China successfully launched the Yaogan-50-1 remote sensing satellite, its first in 2026. The satellite was launched into orbit on January 13 from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Shanxi Province aboard a Long March-6 launch vehicle. The satellite is planned to be used for land monitoring, crop yield assessment, and disaster prevention.
In 5 year ~~plans~~ cycles
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Posted by badanov 2026-01-18 00:00|| E-Mail|| Front Page|| [1832 views ] Top
File under: Commies

1 It didn't crash on a Chinese town, did it?

Posted by DarthVader 2026-01-18 00:38|| 2026-01-18 00:38|| Front Page Top

2 From MSN:

The rocket lifted off at 12:55 a.m. local time from Sichuan province, carrying the Shijian 32 multirole satellite into space. However, during its flight, the rocket experienced technical issues that prevented the satellite from reaching its intended orbit. The launch center released a brief statement confirming the failure but did not provide additional details.

Posted by trailing wife 2026-01-18 00:58|| 2026-01-18 00:58|| Front Page Top

3 Space News has more:

The Long March 3B lifted off at 11:55 Eastern (1655 UTC) Jan. 16 from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China. While amateur footage indicated the launch had taken place on schedule in line with airspace closure notices, silence followed. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) confirmed the failure around 12 hours after liftoff, stating that the Shijian-32 satellite had been lost following a third stage anomaly. “The specific cause is under further analysis and investigation,” state media Xinhua reported.

The failure is the first full failure of a Long March 3B launch since the loss of the Palapa-N1/Nusantara-2 satellite for Indonesia in April 2020, again involving the Long March 3B and a third stage issue.

This is the first complete failure of a Long March 3B mission since the Palapa-N1 loss in April 2020, and appears to be the first outright launch failure for the Long March family in around 300 launches. More recently, a partial failure in March 2024 had followed an anomaly with a Yuanzheng-1S upper stage atop of a Long March 2C rocket. The lunar spacecraft, DRO-A and B, were however eventually delivered into their intended lunar orbits via a series of complex orbital maneuvers.

The hypergolic Long March 3B is mostly used for launches to geostationary transfer orbit, including communications, meteorological, remote sensing and tech demo missions. The failure may delay launches such as those for the TJS experimental series and Tianlian relay satellites. China has other options for such launches in the form of the newer, kerolox Long March 7A, which launches from the coastal Wenchang spaceport. The 7A uses a hydrolox upper stage inherited from the 3B, meaning the Friday failure could affect scheduled launches of the 3B and 7A.

Both links showed up in a quick search — I don’t have any idea how good they are.

Posted by trailing wife 2026-01-18 01:00|| 2026-01-18 01:00|| Front Page Top

4 Last Indian launch had a 3rd stage anomaly too. These anomalies are common for lots of rockets the past 3 weeks....

Posted by 3dc 2026-01-18 02:31|| 2026-01-18 02:31|| Front Page Top

5 What's the Mandarin for R.U.D.?

Posted by Mercutio 2026-01-18 09:07|| 2026-01-18 09:07|| Front Page Top

6 an abnormal malfunction

As opposed to a standard malfunction.

Posted by Skidmark 2026-01-18 09:09|| 2026-01-18 09:09|| Front Page Top

7 Aliens?

Posted by Grom the Affective 2026-01-18 09:56|| 2026-01-18 09:56|| Front Page Top

8 Grom, Chinese, a distinction without a difference?

Posted by alanc 2026-01-18 12:24|| 2026-01-18 12:24|| Front Page Top

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